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Nordost Baldur vs Red Dawn

I purchased a pair of 6 meter Nordost Baldur XLR's to replace a pair of Nordost Blue Heaven XLR's to go between my Pass Labs X1 preamp and my Pass Labs X250.5 amp. There seems to be a huge amount of extra bass with the Baldur but I'm loosing some transparency that the Blue Heavens had. The Blue Heavens where 2 meters long and the Baldurs are 6 meters long. This extra length enables me to place my amp between my speakers and other gear along the side wall.
I'm wondering if the smaller amount of transparency in the Baldur is a characteristic of the cable or perhaps because of the extra length compared to the shorter Blue Heavens?
I'm courious how a Red Dawn interconnect would compare to the Baldur.
By the way I'm using a Blue Heaven IC between my Cd player and preamp

Thanks,

Bob
bob_alders
8 responses Add your response
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Well since no one has answered I take a stab at it. Not sure what you mean by transparency though. A couple of years ago I had a Nordost demo case that had everything from the Blue Haven through the Frey. My impressions were as follows. Both the BH and RD were decent but bright. The Baldur had more bass for sure but lacked the highs the BH and RD's had. Mids were a little toned down too. The Heimdall and Frey were what I preferred. Better tonal balance from top to bottom.
bob_alders OP
7 posts
 
Actually instead of saying transparency perhaps I should have put it the way you did. I'm not finding the Baldur to be bright in my system but as far as the highs and the mids go I agree with you ,they seem toned down compared to the Blue Heavens. I have no experiance with other Nordost offerings however I am wondering what the Red Dawns would do, there's a pair up for sale that I'm thinking about in this longer length that I need, perhaps they would bring back the highs and mids that the Blue Heavens had.
You may have answered my question already, sounds like my experiance may be the charicteristic of the Baldur cable and not so much that it was 3 times longer than the Blue Heavens.
Thanks for your reply.
chayro
2,983 posts
 
The best I can figure out, cables don't have "highs and lows". They have different electrical characteristics that interface with your amplifier and speaker and alter the frequency response accordingly. If you have a boomy system or room, you may well prefer a cable that, combined with the rest of your system, tilted the frequency response away from the bass region. That's why I don't think anyone can judge cables in a vacuum - In a bass-shy system, the Baldur may work wonders, but they just don't click with yours. That's why a demo in your system is the only way to know whether the cable will work for you.
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Chayro I agree with you. But it is the cables electrical characteristic that can make a cable sound lean bright or boomy. A Nordost example would be to compare a Blue Haven or Red Dawn to the new Frey2 or Tyr2. And yes it depends on the system it is in too. Personally I have found that a mega buck cable in a mini buck system will not do as much as if they were in a mega buck system. In fact the mega buck cable may bring out all the flaws in a mini buck system making them seem to be a bad fit. So I think we are saying the same thing just in a different way ;)
bob_alders OP
7 posts
 
Being a newcomer to Nordost it was a surprise to find a cable that was so capible in the low end. Most of my past systems would have really benefitted with this cable. My Martin Logan Prodigys may not require the extra low end capibility of the Baldur . It's a very nice cable though and would do wonders in many systems.
chayro
2,983 posts
 
Xti16, I could not venture a guess as to all the factors that make up a cable's sonic signature. I remember being amazed at a demo of a Naim interconnect in which their only claim was to have isolated the plugs from vibration. No exotic wire - nothing but the plugs. The difference over the stock Naim IC was impressive.
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Chayro, was the the $1000 upgrade cable. If so I heard it too when I considered Naim. My dealer told me the difference was 1000 but nothing technical, although it did seem a bit heavier than the stock cable. Considering the 1k price it seem reasonable compared to some other cables. Unfortunately he did not have any 'Naim spec' Nordost cables to compare.

Funny when Nordost released the Series 2 in the Norse lineup they did change from WBT to Moonglo for the rca version. That being said the Series 2 is quite a step up from the original. Also they dropped the Baldur completely and added the Tyr. BTW I did upgrade my original Frey ic to the Tyr2. Can't afford the Tyr2 sc but in time plan to upgrade my Frey sc to the Frey2
polyglot
77 posts
 
Bob,

for your great sounding amps I would recommend Heimdall and upwards in the Norse line, benefiting from NordOst's Micro Mono-Filament technology. The Heimdall is pretty balanced and is way better than RD. Havent heard the Series 2 though.

I started with BH and have now partially Valhallas in my system. Used Valkyrie offers IMO best value for money for higher end ICs.

Charles
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